We recycle as much as possible. However I’m wondering if it’s always a good thing.
I have a plastic container. To recycle I should rinse out whatever was in it. Is the water I use to rinse worth it?
Say a soup can? Rinse and recycle or just dispose?
We recycle as much as possible. However I’m wondering if it’s always a good thing.
I have a plastic container. To recycle I should rinse out whatever was in it. Is the water I use to rinse worth it?
Say a soup can? Rinse and recycle or just dispose?
Seen the 60 minutes special on recycling? You should watch it. Large corp in N. California takes all the recycling and sends it to China...the ships that return empty to China haul all these back. Now that Chinese economy is better, these 'recycled" things are going to Vietnam and Bangladesh...where lots/most are ending up in the ocean.
I don't recycle any plastic anymore - I don't want my stuff in the ocean.
The invested energy in a gallon of treated rinse water is very very much less than the invested energy in making new plastic or metal containers, even considering the recycloing process. And it avoids landfill volume.
My wife and I recycle everything we can even TP rolls.
We then have a party and people throw a solo cup into the garbage and I pull them out and ask if they recycle - lots tell me they don’t bother. Then I start my “who doesn’t recycle” speech.
I say wash it out
I try and be as concessions as possible about recycling. I've become a lot more concerned reading about the amount of collected recycling that has other contaminants in with it, especially the 'wrong' grade of plastics. I've heard that once you exceed a certain % of foreign material in a batch of recycling it becomes non viable for recycling so ends up as trash. That's bad, but far far worse when that recycling has already spent months and an ungodly carbon footprint to be transported to China, then ends up getting tossed in a landfill. I am now much more careful about checking plastics before putting them in the recycle. I now feel really bad for my poor checking over the last few years. I am also terribly disappointed with the amount of packaging from Trader Joes that isn't recyclable. That and free Prime delivery mean we're getting more and more of our weekly groceries from Whole Foods again as they are, predictably, really really good about most of their packaging.
As far as cleaning things to be recycled, living in Michigan I'm slap bang in the middle of 1/3 of the worlds fresh water, so water conservation isn't on my mid as much as it should be. Thus I'm happy to wash things before going in the recycle bin.
I used to have four separate recycle containers for paper, plastic, glass and metal, but after months of my wife telling me they trow all the recycle in the same truck I finally realized it was a pointless effort.
One thing that drives me nuts is I know several people who flat out refuse to recycle. They say they don't want another trash container in their kitchen and refuse to have another one outside either. To them, the horror of having a separate container for recycling is so abhorrent they'd rather throw it all in the landfill. No, unfortunately I, nor they, are joking, they simply refuse to do it.
Minneapolis went from separated to all-in-one-bin recycling a few years back. I guess the idea was it would encourage more people to recycle since it's easier, but then there has to be a bunch of people separating the collected recycling in a big building somewhere. It just doesn't seem like a good way to do it. In regards to the stuff getting sent overseas, I've read that the paper recycling market is pretty much dead right now since its value is so low.
I'd rather see everything dumped into one truck and taken to a sorting center. Recycle what is possible, burn the rest in a good hot incinerator driven power plant.
At the risk of having this one go off course, Recycling won't be successful without government mandate. I am not a government mandate fan in general but most green initiatives can't climb the investment curve to reach viability without regulatory support or subsidy. I think wind energy, solar, and EV's are examples where the US found a fairly successful middle ground (not full EMEA). As they become successful at being break-even the subsidies can be rolled back. In most of Europe (EU) manufacturers must recycle/sell 100% of waste created as there is no landfill option. This regulation drives different consumer and business behavior across the entire chain. In the US the landfill option is always drastically cheaper.
I personally recycle and am actively working a very successful product offering of recycle content materials due to the cost reductions they offer. I can certainly need to do more than I'm doing. Next steps on my mind are related to composting of food scraps which should really cut down the garbage in the can and help out my garden.
In terms of "green" products there are a variety of consumer electronics and other folks that are getting on board. In regards to industrial manufacturing here are a few major companies that are really getting on board with Green initiative for something other that $Green$.
China regulation changes were targeted at driving consumption of Chinese produced "virgin" materials rather than other factors. The financials of the sell to China (or other low cost nation) worked out vs the virgin material prices for two main factors. Energy costs in (also feed stock prices via nat gas etc) are drastically lower than the rest of the world. Logistics costs back to Asia are ridiculous cheap as there is always more empty containers needing to get back to China due to the sheer volume of imports.
In regards to other low cost nations throwing it in the ocean I think that's more an issue of their consumer scrap, not the industrial/business driven process. Many of these nations don't have a developed waste or recycling system and hence it ends up floating. The industry/business paid to buy the material from North America in order to clean and reprocess/sell. There is painfully little money in this business so I imagine they are financially motivated to be efficient.
I'll be curious to see if the one-time use packaging changes actually happen or not. This would be difficult enough to manage in plastic that it would drive a massive shift to paper products that are more easily and efficiently recycled. If the end goal is less pollution and less energy use I have no idea if this is a net positive or negative.
There was a small recycling effort here for plastics, glass and metals, and a huge one for paper and plastic drink containers. A couple of years ago we went to a single stream system, forced on everyone. Now we can't recycle glass, because it breaks and ruins the paper and plastic...
Forcing "simple" programs on people ruins the efforts of people who care. It's stupid.
stuart in mn said:Minneapolis went from separated to all-in-one-bin recycling a few years back. I guess the idea was it would encourage more people to recycle since it's easier, but then there has to be a bunch of people separating the collected recycling in a big building somewhere. It just doesn't seem like a good way to do it. In regards to the stuff getting sent overseas, I've read that the paper recycling market is pretty much dead right now since its value is so low.
They have automated equipment that does most of the sorting. That’s why they don’t want you to use bags to put the recycles in. Things stay trapped and need to be pulled out by hand. You can recycle paper bags but dump the stuff in your bin and then crumple the bag.
Adrian_Thompson said:I try and be as concessions as possible about recycling. I've become a lot more concerned reading about the amount of collected recycling that has other contaminants in with it, especially the 'wrong' grade of plastics. I've heard that once you exceed a certain % of foreign material in a batch of recycling it becomes non viable for recycling so ends up as trash. That's bad, but far far worse when that recycling has already spent months and an ungodly carbon footprint to be transported to China, then ends up getting tossed in a landfill. I am now much more careful about checking plastics before putting them in the recycle. I now feel really bad for my poor checking over the last few years. I am also terribly disappointed with the amount of packaging from Trader Joes that isn't recyclable. That and free Prime delivery mean we're getting more and more of our weekly groceries from Whole Foods again as they are, predictably, really really good about most of their packaging.
As far as cleaning things to be recycled, living in Michigan I'm slap bang in the middle of 1/3 of the worlds fresh water, so water conservation isn't on my mid as much as it should be. Thus I'm happy to wash things before going in the recycle bin.
I used to have four separate recycle containers for paper, plastic, glass and metal, but after months of my wife telling me they trow all the recycle in the same truck I finally realized it was a pointless effort.
One thing that drives me nuts is I know several people who flat out refuse to recycle. They say they don't want another trash container in their kitchen and refuse to have another one outside either. To them, the horror of having a separate container for recycling is so abhorrent they'd rather throw it all in the landfill. No, unfortunately I, nor they, are joking, they simply refuse to do it.
Minnesota is the headwaters of the Mississippi, Great Lakes, and Hudson’s bay. We have 15,000 lakes ( even though we only advertise 10,000 ). I live on a 5 million gallon+ lake so water is not an issue.
Energy is
The energy to pump it from out of the ground river or whatever. Treat it, pump it into water towers and dispose of the waste from rinsing recycles off.
I used to be fanatical about recycling. Then the county got to where all they want is cardboard, newsprint (I don't take the paper), plastic milk jugs and aluminum/tin cans.
I recycle. The county makes it pretty easy. I do wonder if the stuff ever really gets recycled though. You hear stories of it ending up as trash.
Bottle deposit laws are part of the answer. People who can't be bothered to recycle won't notice 10 cents per container added to the cost. Recycling-minded people will get their deposit back. Down on their luck people will scavenge what they find and profit for their efforts. It's a win-win, but the industry fights it. This is where government needs to step up and do the right thing instead of whoring themselves out to the highest bidder.
Make rhe tin can the last thing you wash when doing the dishes, or if you're running the dish washer stick it in there.
We have a bag for mixed paper and a bin for accepted plastics, unaccepted plastics we collect and they are taken to a recycling centre.
Once all that is taken care of we have two garbage cans one for green that includes food scraps and garden waste, and consequently there isn't much left for the trash.
84FSP said:At the risk of having this one go off course, Recycling won't be successful without government mandate. I am not a government mandate fan in general but most green initiatives can't climb the investment curve to reach viability without regulatory support or subsidy. I think wind energy, solar, and EV's are examples where the US found a fairly successful middle ground (not full EMEA). As they become successful at being break-even the subsidies can be rolled back. In most of Europe (EU) manufacturers must recycle/sell 100% of waste created as there is no landfill option. This regulation drives different consumer and business behavior across the entire chain. In the US the landfill option is always drastically cheaper.
I personally recycle and am actively working a very successful product offering of recycle content materials due to the cost reductions they offer. I can certainly need to do more than I'm doing. Next steps on my mind are related to composting of food scraps which should really cut down the garbage in the can and help out my garden.
In terms of "green" products there are a variety of consumer electronics and other folks that are getting on board. In regards to industrial manufacturing here are a few major companies that are really getting on board with Green initiative for something other that $Green$.
China regulation changes were targeted at driving consumption of Chinese produced "virgin" materials rather than other factors. The financials of the sell to China (or other low cost nation) worked out vs the virgin material prices for two main factors. Energy costs in (also feed stock prices via nat gas etc) are drastically lower than the rest of the world. Logistics costs back to Asia are ridiculous cheap as there is always more empty containers needing to get back to China due to the sheer volume of imports.
In regards to other low cost nations throwing it in the ocean I think that's more an issue of their consumer scrap, not the industrial/business driven process. Many of these nations don't have a developed waste or recycling system and hence it ends up floating. The industry/business paid to buy the material from North America in order to clean and reprocess/sell. There is painfully little money in this business so I imagine they are financially motivated to be efficient.
I'll be curious to see if the one-time use packaging changes actually happen or not. This would be difficult enough to manage in plastic that it would drive a massive shift to paper products that are more easily and efficiently recycled. If the end goal is less pollution and less energy use I have no idea if this is a net positive or negative.
Recycling in China is big business. There is an extremely rich woman who buys dead batteries and recycles everything. She’s since expanded into many other things. But stopping buying American’s recycling was a purely political move. Effective too!
Last I heard we were still scrambling to find markets for a lot of material.
I think glass bottle deposits are great. We had them in the UK and they were already in Michigan when i moved here. I was amazed when I first went to a State without bottle deposits. I just wish they'd be expanded to water bottles, non carbonated soft drinks and all States.
While i’m skeptical of what happens after i dump stuff in the bin, I cannot just trash recyclables. I take the metal cans and stuff directly to the scrap yard and use paper to start fires in the woodburner or fireplace.
RE: original question, I put cans/jars in my dishwasher when I run it. Uses a lot less water than rinsing in the sink.
I recycle everything I possibly can, and sort properly. A lot of people don't realize the silly rules their local recycler has (esp. in the south). For example, here:
I am curious what happens with my stuff after I have recycled it. I try to do the best I can with the part I have control over. I also try and minimize purchases that result in me having to recycle crap. Sometimes there is no avoiding it, because America. But for example, 1lb of dry beans (they don't sell bigger bags locally) will make the equivalent of like 5 cans of beans (minus the sodium/preservatives), and I only have to recycle a tiny bag. The real answer here would be to just buy at farmer's markets, but those are so terribly inconvenient :(
I also compost a lot, so the amount of stuff that ends up in the trash is relatively small. I take the trash out every few months.
I do wonder if its better for me to just compost all the paper products I recycle.
I recycle everything as well as stuff I probably should not. It is simple. The recycle stuff it taken away for free. Trash we pay to have taken away. We have got it down to about one trash bag a month or less. Everything else goes in the recycle bin.
1988RedT2 said:I recycle. The county makes it pretty easy. I do wonder if the stuff ever really gets recycled though. You hear stories of it ending up as trash.
Bottle deposit laws are part of the answer. People who can't be bothered to recycle won't notice 10 cents per container added to the cost. Recycling-minded people will get their deposit back. Down on their luck people will scavenge what they find and profit for their efforts. It's a win-win, but the industry fights it. This is where government needs to step up and do the right thing instead of whoring themselves out to the highest bidder.
I used to frequent landfills in Los Angeles when I worked with a contractor. I would take all our demo to the dump.
Lined up all in a row are trash trucks and recycling trucks waiting to offload. They all dump their stuff in the same exact spot. I took a photo and sent it to a couple newspapers.
I have started down the path of taking it one step further. I try not to consume anything that requires recycling or trashing. I got rid of plastic bags and bring my own reusable bags to the store. Instead of buying plastic storage containers for the kitchen I got glass containers. I try to buy as much fresh food as possible instead of canned or packaged, but that gets tough when you live alone.
I'll start composting this spring but I've had mixed success with that. Any of my junk mail and paper waste usually gets burned in the fire pit. It's going to give up its carbon eventually. Might as well burn it here instead of adding to the landfill.
I would reach out to the municipality, the waste company, and maybe even visit the landfill to see how it gets treated. If it all goes in the same hole, skip it and focus on other ways to cut waste.
But in answer to your original question... half a cup of water vs 150 years of landfill decomposition and soil leeching? Yes. Rinse and recycle.
1988RedT2 said:I recycle. The county makes it pretty easy. I do wonder if the stuff ever really gets recycled though. You hear stories of it ending up as trash.
Bottle deposit laws are part of the answer. People who can't be bothered to recycle won't notice 10 cents per container added to the cost. Recycling-minded people will get their deposit back. Down on their luck people will scavenge what they find and profit for their efforts. It's a win-win, but the industry fights it. This is where government needs to step up and do the right thing instead of whoring themselves out to the highest bidder.
This is a great point.
I think bottle deposits work... for bottles. I buy very few bottles and zero aluminum cans. What about boxes, paper products, plastic bags, bottles on non-standard sizes, etc?
I'm not saying places shouldn't do bottle deposits, but it would be nice to have a system that worked for all recyclables.
I recycle a 96 gallon can a week. I miss the organics recycling in Seattle. You’d be surprised at how much of your trash can be put into a digestor and made into something useful locally. I didn’t like how the program was run but marveled every week at how little went in our actual trash.
I have ten shops in five states, while this conversation has mostly been for home use I’ve been very disappointed that the recycling program I set up with a large waste management company named...well, let’s leave names out of this^; basically they come with one truck and load the three dumpsters in that one truck. So I pay extra to feel good about them picking up my cardboard and plastic for recycling when I’m not seeing that be done. It could all go to a sort facility and actually be recycled but why am I paying more if it gets sorted anyway?
At home I recycle everything, family of five usually one bag of trash goes to the dump per week. It’s not exactly easy but it’s cheaper than paying for trash pickup and it’s a small thing.
We used to have recycling here but they got annoying about the rules so my grandfather stopped paying for it. Plus we pretty much never filled the can ever the entire time we had it.
I make up for it by recycling all the junk equipment from work. Much more benefit out of a 1000 pound truck load of copper and aluminum than the occasional milk jug tbh. I also get paid for it, which is a much nicer incentive.
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